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If you are considering listing your home for the occasional shoot, here follows a general indication of how the process usually unfolds for television commercials:
Is your home suitable?
We look for homes of all styles. It is common for us to be scouting properties with some character or texture. TVC shoots typically have around 8-10 essential vehicles wherefrom the crew work. As such, properties which have some parking and reasonable access are best. That said we can often barricade for parking, or hire nearby parking lots.
Does listing with us cost anything?
No. We do not charge you nor do we take a cut of the fees you earn. We negotiate and arrange for the location fees to be paid to you by the production company. We always aim to make sure both parties get the fairest deal possible.
Listing with us
We would photograph the property at a time of your convenience. For a suburban house, this only takes about 15 minutes and we try and schedule it when we are in the area or can combine a few houses together.
Pre-Production
After receiving a brief from our creative clients, we send them selection of homes we think are suitable. We do not include addresses or personal details of the homeowners. They would then select a few houses, whereafter we contact the owners and provide details of the shoot to check availability.
The next step is usually a director survey, where we bring the director and some of their team to see the property and take photos relevant to the script. This normally take about 15 minutes and we try fit in with times which are very convenient to you. On average, a house usually gets scouted 3 or 4 times for every time it is booked.
Should the director wish to use your house, they present it to their client and we wait through a two step approval process of going to the advertising agency and then the client (for example – BMW). This can take a few days to get these approvals.
If everything is good to go, we then return for a technical survey which involves bringing all HOD’s (cinematographer, director, producer, art director, lighting, grips, production) to the home to plan the shoot. This usually takes 1-2 hours and is included in the location fee.
Location Fees / Contracts / Insurance
As simple contract is signed which includes times, areas of access, fees payable, a make good clause and a release of recorded footage rights to the production company. We also provide the production companies’ public liability insurance, which indemnifies the owner from any unlikely damage or injury.
The location fee is usually paid in full prior to access. Most of our agreements are for a 12/13 hour day but jobs differ and this is negotiable with the owner. Overtime would apply thereafter, charged hourly. Sometime art department require access to the house the day before or after the shoot, subject to availability and discretion of the owner. This would usually be to decorate some of the spaces required to be ready for filming on the crew arrival. This access is usually paid hourly and our standard formula is half the daily location fee / 10. So if the house is being paid $3,000/day, then art department access would be at $150/hr.
The Shoot
Every shoot differs, but for a full day shoot, it is common for us to request access from about 06:30 and to be there for 12-13 hours. Normally our location team would be first on site and we put drop sheets down to protect the floor and cover delicate furniture. We usually set up make-up in one of the rooms and wardrobe in another. Bedding is covered with freshly laundered drop sheets. We often set up a ‘video village’ somewhere for the client and agency to watch and sign off on all the footage. A normal TVC crew has about 30 people.
Post-Shoot
After the shoot we arrange cleaning. This often happens the next morning. Please note that overtime payments do not apply to time that the cleaner is at your home.
If you are interested in learning more, please contact us to discuss.